Green Options » rideshare

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Van Rideshare Service Expands, Atlanta Traffic Gets Some Relief

Tom Schueneman — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:43:41 +0000

The Atlanta metro area is one of the fastest growing urban centers in the country and, according to the Forbes magazine 2008 ranking, enjoys some of the worst traffic in the U.S. 13% of Atlanta-bound commuters spend over an hour commuting to work, with the average commuter spending more than 60 hours every year hassling their way to work on ever more crowded roadways. Atlanta ranks in the top ten cities for air pollution.

Clearly Atlanta is a perfect opportunity to employ all efforts available to reduce traffic. Heather Pastrick, from Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s Atlanta operation, recently explained how one important component of those efforts consists of the 110 vanpools (and growing) provided by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Rideshare program throughout the greater Atlanta metropolitan area.

iPhone Rideshare App To Cut 73.6 M Tons of CO2 Annually

Jerry James Stone — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:30:13 +0000

In an attempt to save the planet—and possibly just to piss off Canada—the company Mapflow is bringing a ridesharing app to the iPhone. The app is called Avego and Mapflow hopes it will help save the world. Hey, they had me at pissing off the Canadians.

Car-sharing Website under Threat from Bus Company

Amiel Blajchman — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:23:04 +0000

Canadian website PickupPal is a ride-sharing “service [that] is providing a venue for either passengers or packages to find or be matched to a driver—typically already traveling in a certain direction or destination.” PickupPal uses its own software to match travelers and drivers, and then it’s up to them to negotiate prices, since PickupPal makes its money through advertising on the website itself. A pretty innovative service that gives travelers a bit more flexibility when traveling between cities, especially ones that are perhaps a bit more underserved by the bus/train/plane. The good news/ bad news situation for PickupPal is that they’ve become successful enough that their competitors are trying to shut them down.

Tip o’ the Day: I HOV You

Rebecca Carter — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:36:53 +0000

Rush hour. Did you just tense up? It's no wonder - traffic is a big cause of stress. There are several ways to avoid it; today we'll cover just one. [Play heavenly music] The HOV lane. The "high occupancy vehicle" abbreviation was never that intuitive for us, and we were pretty convinced for a while that it was "humans on vehicle". Either way, that's the special lane that for several hours each day will let carpoolers go a little (or a lot) faster than the rest.

Carpooling is great for the environment, and your wallet. By sharing a ride with people coming and going in the same basic direction, you save on gas and help decongest roads. And who knows, your stress level just might go down. Wikipedia suggests that there is even another element involved: "Carpools may provide social connections in an increasingly disconnected society." Sure, we'll buy that. But we're not going to sell the benefits too much - they are obvious.

So why don't more people carpool? We're pretty sure it boils down to the fear of lack of independence. You're concerned that if you need to go somewhere, or leave early or late - then what will you do? Our suggestion is to try it before you knock it. Many cities and states run official carpool programs. They allow you to type in your starting point and destination, and receive a list of available rides, or requested rides that fit your needs. Some even provide a certain number of taxi coupons per year, in case you need to go home early or late one day.

Find any official programs by searching for carpool, vanpool, or rideshare in your local area. Also check out the Rideshare Directory for national and state listings of services. Plus, to get your carpool started off in the right direction, check out Wikipedia's Steps to Carpooling Success, which includes discussing "possible irritants" like cell phone use or smoking.

Okay, we said we weren't going to sell you, but money talks. Calculate your potential savings.

Rebecca says: Imagine what our roads would be like if everyone carpooled. Imagine getting to work faster because you can ride in the carpool lane. Speaking as someone that has no commute - if you can't live near where you work, do what you can to make your trip less costly to the environment, your pocketbook, and your time. Who knows, you might just gain an extra hour or two of your life back everyday.

What Grabs You: Reducing Gridlock, Making Green Friends

Sara Holt — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:57:00 +0000

Have you ever sat stuck in traffic for hours and noticed how many empty seats there are for every driver on the road?

This observation is exactly what prompted Oakland-resident Stephen Cataldo to found SpaceShare, the green carpool, rideshare, and travel hub for conferences and festivals around the country. Operating from the simple goal to have “less cars. more community,” SpaceShare provides access for various festival and conference-goers to connect with fellow greenies or music lovers while saving on gas and reducing pollution.

Stephen Cataldo rightly observes that “People travel to festivals and conferences to connect. Yet their travels are often uncoordinated, lonely and expensive.” And this is exactly what SpaceShare seeks to address by giving people a digital space to meet, connect, and arrange for rideshares to their favorite events.

I first found out about SpaceShare while looking for a ride to last year’s SolFest. Living in the Bay Area, I am lucky enough to rely on my bike and public transit for all of my transportation needs… That is, until I need to get to the latest green event outside of public transport limits!

Finding my ride through SpaceShare couldn’t have been easier and more fun. Through the rideshare link provided on the Solfest website, I entered a quick blurb about myself and the dates/place I needed a ride for, then scoured the list of drivers leaving from the Bay Area who were offering space in their car. The people I eventually found for the 3-hour trip up to SolFest were some of coolest, funniest, greenest people I’ve met out here. In fact, they’ve since become some of my closest friends. If you’re interested in learning more about SpaceShare’s latest activities, or to get involved, please visit www.spaceshare.com.

What Grabs You: Local Networking the Green Way

Sara Holt — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:38:20 +0000

Have you ever wanted to meet and network with local fellow greenies over a good brew? Then get thee to your next local Green Drinks! A self-described, “Organic, self-organizing network,” Green Drinks International is an informal monthly gathering that takes place all over the world for any and all interested in local happenings connected to the environment.

Since moving to the Bay Area, attending Green Drinks has been on the top of my to-do list. So last Wednesday, I high-tailed it over to the Triple Rock Brewery in Berkeley to see what the buzz was all about.

Once inside, I met up with Green Options’ CEO David Anderson, who introduced me to a group of solar installers from Berkeley’s own Borrego Solar. When I worked for a green architect in Berkeley last summer, I would bike past Borrego Solar every day and wistfully imagine meeting up with those inside to discuss how they were changing the world. Now here I was, standing face-to-face with these very people, chatting the green chat over a delicious pint of IPA.

Upstairs on the roofdeck, I ran into some friends from the Oakland Ecovillage, where I caught up on the latest with the solar hot tub installation (which you may remember from my first Green Options post on the February 5th launch). Through them, I met the folks from spaceshare.com (providing carpooling networks to green events and festivals), stopwaste.org (reducing the waste stream for Alameda County), and even a co-sponsor of the event from EcoHome Improvement (www.ecohomeimprovement.com).

Looking at the crowd around me, I suddenly realized I had arrived full swing into Berkeley’s green scene… and it was through Green Drinks! In a mere two-hour span of time, I was able to manifest all sorts of green connections, from old friends to new acquaintances, I even managed to line up some options for future green involvement… all for the price of one drink! If you’d like to check out the green scene your hometown or even during your next trip to Italy, please visit www.greendrinks.org.